Concealed wall seat



W. HANCOCK CONCEALED WALL SEAT Filed Sept. 3, 1953 IIL Aug. 9, 1955 INVENTOR. UAM HM/cock', BY

rrae/E YI United States Patent O CONCEALED WALL SEAT William Hancock, Los Angeles, Calif, Application September 3, 1953, Serial No. 378,287 2 Claims. (Cl. 155-83) This invention relates to and has for an object the provision of an improved concealed wall seat which is adapted to be extensibly and retractibly mounted in a section of a wall for use at will and normally retracted in a space between vertical studs where it is concealed behind a panel.

An object is to hingedly support the seat at a point behind a panel which has been cut away to provide an opening through which the seat may be extended at will and when extended will overlie and be supported forwardly of its axis on the exposed upper edge of the panel section at the bottom of the opening in cantilevered position so as to afford maximum rigidity and strength to support a person on the seat.

Another object is to provide one or more sliding panel sections which together with the seat when it is swung upwardly and inwardly toward the wall will form a cover for the opening in the wall and which panels alone will serve the same purpose while the seat is extended.

A further object is to provide suitable linked and hinged connections between the seat, the closure panels and the wall frame to correspondingly move the closure panels to and from closed positions as the seat is swung from normally inoperative nested position in the wall to outwardly extended position for use and vice versa.

Importantly, it is an object to provide a collapsible wall seat structure which can be readily mounted between adjacent studs of a wall frame by merely cutting an opening in a single upright wall panel to which access may be readily had for properly connecting and supporting the cooperating parts of a foldable seat unit.

Other objects may appear as the description progresses.

A preferred form of unit is shown in the annexed drawings in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a seat embodying the invention and a part of a wall in which the seat is mounted;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the same on line 2-2 of Fig. l showing the seat extended for use;

Fig. 3 is a view of the same in the plane of Fig. 2 but with the seat collapsed, and concealed in a wall; and

Fig. 4 is a rear elevational view of the unit as viewed in the direction of the arrow 4 of Fig. 3.

A conventional wall W, in which my unit is readily mountable, may have a plaster finish as shown in Fig. l in which an opening O is cut after the wall is completed, or said wall may have vertical wooden panels as at P extending from the base board to a wainscot or ceiling in one of which panels the opening O is cut between adjacent vertical studs W', W, thereby providing a short lower panel section P1 below the opening.

A seat S, usually but not necessarily formed of a single board, is hinged at the bottom of opening O to the rear side of the panel P1 as by a pair of hinges H, H so that when the seat is extended as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 it will rest upon the upper edge of panel P1 and will be disposed horizontally in cantilevered position.

When thus extended the rear portion of the seat will bear `against a cleat secured to the back W2 of the wall W. Hence, panel P1 and cleat 10 serve to support the extended seat S and the weight of a body borne by the seat.

Secured to seat S is a cleat 11 on its upper side in wardly of the common plane of panels P and P1 when the seat is extended and said cleat is hinged at 12, 12 to a rst closure panel C so that as seat S is swung upwardly and downwardly the closure C will be correspondingly moved to opposite positions shown in Figs. 3 and 2, respectively.

A second but narrower closure panel C is also moved with the seat by means of a connection including a link 13 pivoted at its lower end 14 in a bearing 15 secured to the upper side of seat S near its rear edge, the upper end of link 13 having a loop 16 embracing a central portion 17 of a bell crank supported in brackets 18, 18 on the rear side of closure panel C. Said bell crank is correspondingly bent at opposite ends to provide pintles 19, 19 which seat in bores 20, 20 in studs W, W outwardly of right angular portions 21, 21 movable against suitable stops 22, 22. Seat S has a suitable pull device 23 for extending and retracting the seat.

Obviously, as the seat is lowered from its retracted position whereat it and the panels C and C are nested in the wall W, the panels C and C will be together moved upwardly in overlapping positions over the opening O and together form a back ior seat S as well as serving to cover opening O.

lWhen the seat is reversely moved, said panels fold into positions behind the seat in the wall and the seat then serves to close the opening O, although the seat is at the rear of said opening. Hence, in no case is there possibility of access to the interior of wall W through opening O, whereby trash could be inserted into the wall space from careless, intentional or accidental. disposal, for at no time is the opening O unclosed by panels C and C or seat S.

I claim:

l. In combination with a hollow wall having a front opening therein: a seat hinged to said wall at the lower edge of said opening; a stop mounted in said wall adjacent said opening; a tirst closure panel secured to said seat; and a second closure panel secured to said seat, the means securing the second panel slidably supporting the upper end of said rst panel whereby, when said seat is extended from said opening and engages said stop, said lirst panel is slidably supported on said means and supports said second panel, said rst and second panels overlapping and together deiining a back for said seat which closes said opening.

2. In combination with a hollow wall having a front opening therein: a seat hinged to said wall at the lower edge of said opening; a stop mounted in said wall adjacent said opening; a lirst closure panel secured to said seat; and a second closure panel secured to said seat, the means securing the second panel slidably supporting the upper end of said iirst panel whereby, when said seat is extended from said opening and engages said stop, said rst panel is slidably supported on said means and supports said second panel, said rst and second panels overlapping and together defining a back for said seat which closes said opening, said means for slidably supporting said iirst closure being constituted by a bellcrank having pintles rotatable in said Wall and a link connecting said seat with said bellcrank so that as said seat is extended one of said closures will slide over the other of said closures and said other closure substantially closing said opening.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,132,004 Preise Mar. 16, 1915 1,199,002 Preise Sept. 19, 1916 1,617,901 Freise Feb. 15, 1927 

